Month: February 2018

THE MERCHANT SOUGHT THE LORD AND FOUND THE LORD. HE WAS NOT LEFT TO KEEP SEEKING

The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Today as in all of history, men are in the world searching for meaning to their lives, for truth they can make their own. Because broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there are that find it, most of the searches these men perform lead to ways of destruction. They can lead to all manner of sins – from false religions to substances that provide temporary escape, even to the less obvious love for the promises of the world. But few there are that find the Lord Jesus Christ because they know not whom they are searching for.

The merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven is not like these worldly merchants. The merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven was looking for goodly pearls. The merchant was looking for Heavenly truth. The merchant in the Kingdom of Heaven was looking for the way of salvation, the way to Heaven, eternal life, peace with God, assurance in this life and assurance for that which is to come. The merchant was not left to keep searching but the merchant found what he was looking for. He was looking for goodly pearls and he found the one pearl of great price. The Christian merchant is one who was seeking the truth and who found it. Like Andrew, Peter, Nathaniel, and Phillip, who looked for the Messiah and found Him, even Jesus Christ (John 1:35-51), so the merchant in the Kingdom seeks and finds.

Our Savior said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you…” He does not say, seek and ye “might” find, but rather seek and ye “shall” find. The merchant in the kingdom of Heaven is one who sought and who found even as the Lord had promised.

Our Savior made this promise and showed the urgency of it. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near (Isa. 55:6). A day is coming when the Lord will no longer be found. Today is the day of salvation – seek the Lord, look upon the rock that is Jesus Christ, and find Him. The day will soon be too late. Those who did not make finding Jesus Christ their greatest pursuit but made him instead their afterthought will soon face the judgment. Seek the Lord now. Find Him. None who seek Him now will He turn away.

The worldly merchants are always searching and never coming to the truth. The Kingdom of Heaven is like merchants who have sought the Lord Jesus Christ and have found Him.

Dear friend, find the Lord! Lay all else aside, every worldly care, every distraction, every sin, everything, and find the one pearl of great price, even Jesus Christ the Savior of all who repent of their sins and believe in Him alone for salvation. Will you wait until the time when the Lord himself, the master of the house is risen to shut the door and you are outside saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not…” (Luke 13:25). Or, will you seek Him now while he may indeed be found? None who seek now are denied.

Ben Stahl, Elder

INTRO TO PART 2: THE MERCHANT

Now if by God’s grace we have tasted of the perfection of Jesus Christ represented here in this parable as the one pearl of great price, we can with this foundation turn our minds towards the merchant. For the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls…

We can rightly surmise from this parable that Jesus is here demonstrating that all men and women in our day are merchants. Some are merchants of power. Some are merchants of pleasure. Some are merchants of evil and death, sin and destruction. Others are merchants of great wealth. Still others pursue knowledge, friendships, happiness, health, etc… Some merchants have a great sense of their sin and guilt. They have a great sense of their mortality and frailty. And so they search for help. They search for salvation from their sin, freedom from their guilt, hope for their mortality and pending death.

Ponce deLeon searched for immortality from mythical waters that gave eternal life. His whole life was a drive towards this goal. And while his name is placed on street signs in Atlanta he is no longer living. Such are the merchants in the world. Some of these merchants are even in the church. They deceive themselves and or others into thinking they are merchants of the Kingdom of Heaven but they are lying to themselves and others. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests of Jesus’ day were like this. They were in the church for the hope that they would be viewed well, that they will feel good about themselves, that they might be able to tell others they are in church and therefore be highly favored. But in their heart they were still very much the merchants of the world whom we see in the day of judgment in Revelation 18. These are the tares the devil sows in the church in the parable of the wheat and the tares (vs. 37-43).

Jesus, however, is not so much concerned in this parable to merely show the merchants of the world. He shows us that well enough in other passages. He is concerned to show us another merchant. The merchant Jesus shows is a member in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a merchant who is no longer looking for goodly pearls but has found one pearl of great price, sold all, and bought it. This merchant is a Christian. We must meditate on this parable now in the context of several lessons on the merchant.

Ben Stahl, Elder